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Saturday, March 7, 2009

Campaign Update #4. The Wrath of Ogodei

May 9-12

The evening began where we left off last session: on the third level of Ogodei's tower, in the room where you had fought and vanquished two mohrgs. After taking stock of your resources, you ascended to the fourth level of the tower, and found yourself in a room similar to the one below, but with three sets of spiral stairs, one red one black, and one white, each ending at a locked door on the next floor. When the locks did not yield to Kyr's pick, Pangold broke down the door at the top of the white stair, triggering a chain lightning trap which arced down the stairs and wounded most of the characters. The door opened onto a stone wall. Left with little recourse except to risk another trap, Ulfgar broke down the door at the top of the red stairs, which fortunately opened into a library, where you found a create undead scroll and a chalice on a table.

You proceeded to the next level, which was hung with a massive tapestry depicting a gruesome battle scene, and accented with the corpse of a woman who was hung from the ceiling in an angel-like pose. Two suits of full plate armor flanked the stairs to the next level. Each suit of armor was a swordwraith, and as you entered the room, they attacked, initiating what turned out to be one of the most memorable, and easily the most desperate, battle that has ever been fought in the Drowned World.

As the party engaged the swordwraiths, Ogodei, who had cast a Greater Invisibility spell on himself, began to hammer the party with offensive spells from his perch on the stairs. When both Inakai and Hrolff went down, the party decided to retreat to the level below, but Ogodei cast a Wall of Ice spell which trapped Olwe in the room with the two unconscious characters and the one remaining swordwraith. With the help of Erth and Ulfgar, Olwe managed to chop a hole through the wall and flee, but the icy cold that lingered took his few remaining hit points and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

As Ogodei's spells continued to rain down, the party reentered the room, and as Erth healed Hrolff, who in turn healed Inakai and several others, Ulfgar charged up the stairway, in hopes of finding the invisible wizard, but was grievously wounded by two of Ogodei's Scorching Rays seconds after brushing past him. Erth conjured a cloud of fog to provide cover for the party, and Alayna, who had cast Greater Invisibility on herself, managed to wound the necromancer, who had moved down into the room, with her fiery, draconic breath. Ogodei retaliated with a Cone of Cold spell that took down both Erth and Hrolff, who had only just regained consciousness and would have died had Inakai not stabilized him on her first attempt.

With the necromancer somewhere in the room, the party moved up the stairs into what appeared to be a bedchamber. Ogodei pursued, but the party suddenly switched tactics and Alayna, speaking on behalf of the party, offered to stand down and join him. Ogodei seemed to buy the bluff, because he became visible and began questioning the party. Pangold took advantage of this, and mercilessly cut the wizard down, ending what may have been the longest 63 seconds I have ever known.

You rested in the tower until everyone was back to full strength, and then ventured out to seek information on the Mirror of Life Trapping you had found beneath Ogodei's bed. You met with Amira again, and led her to believe that you had not yet procured the mirror in order to get some additional information out of her. Because of her reticence and the DM's somewhat groggy state of mind, you learned little, so you headed to the Magic District, where you hoped to research the mirror at the Library of Oyugun. It turned out that the Magic District is a demi-plane that is reached through a crooked lintel beneath the Coliseum Bridge. You passed through the portal and found yourselves on a narrow, tidy street lined with shops. You easily found the library, and with the help of the librarians, you learned a great deal of technical information about the mirror, as well as some interesting history that I did not disclose last night. The mirror belonged to the Kipchaks, who used it against their enemies. It disappeared when the keep fell, and had not resurfaced at the time the book was written. The book speculates that the mirror may imprison an ancient warrior named Dochin the Bloody, who was a lieutenant of a warlord named Bataar the Heartless, who is best known for the brutal, scorched earth campaigns he carried out against the dwarves in nearby Kha'atia.

I would like to make a minor adjustment to the experience point totals I gave you last evening. because I generated Ogodei using the heroic array for ability scores, he was actually a CR 11 rather than a CR 10. Therefore, 8th level characters should add 300 XP, and 7th level characters should add 263 XP. The new totals, in case you haven't added them yet, are 2,888 XP for 7th level PCs and 2,300 XP for 8th level PCs.

12 comments:

The Library of Oyugun houses information on history and culture as well as magic, so if you all agree that your characters would have searched for more information on the new details I revealed in this recap, please let me know what you would have followed up on, and I will reveal disclose the additional information in a post.

Thanks DM for a very difficult and memorable combat. That one will definitely go down in the lore of our group as one of the most terrifying. I think our skills as players were pushed to the limit. Hrolff was down 10 his last negative hit point - yikes.

One question, did we find Ogodei's spell book anywhere in the tower? Such an item is worth a pretty penny, er, copper piece.

Thanks, DM, for a desperate night of gaming. I think the 20th and 21st were suggested, but I think I remember something about a conflict on the 20th...a birthday party or something?? I can't quite recall.

So showing up to Scholars' Day unshaven, bloodshot and reeking of bourbon would not go over well? I am happy to run an adventure Saturday the 21st for anyone who can make it, but for the reason mentioned above, I should probably stay in Friday and get a decent night's sleep on Friday. Thanks for the reminder, Post Festum. Though we've been working on Scholars' Day for a good year now, the actual event still hadn't made it from my Outlook Calendar to my brain.

Awesome Combat DM... oh so close to a TPK. I think the susoense and strategy is the best part of play. I'll check my schedule in the morn and let ya know. I will also forward all the dates that I have set for the mountains between now and the middle of deer season.

The 21st is very fine here... I think that was the most challenging and dire situation any of my characters has ever encountered. I remember having a full sense of how the momentum of the encounter ebbed and flowed with upward anticipation and a big, big down like a roller coaster ride. Very nice work, DM, and some smart thinking by the party!

Oh, lest I forget in a late night haze as I did last time, Erth needs a day (24 meditation) to summon Ulee who is ready to return to service at his side. Perhaps, our DM may allow for one of the post combat days to account for this event?

Yes, that's fine. If the rest of the party is amenable, we can just factor an extra day in, if there hasn't been sufficient time already. How many days did the party stay in the tower after the battle? Thanks to the Buffalo Trace and the late hour, I'm a little hazy on that detail. I know it was at least one day, but Erth would have been recovering consciousness that first day. Let me know.